I wrote this for the Failure and Regret Songfight. The mix in this version is subtley different than the Songfight submission: that version lacked bass, and the vocals in the chorus sounded harsh. (They were too loud and ended up squashed by the compression on the final mix.) This mix is more even.

I wanted the song to sound like straight-up Canadian folk rock, so I used two of the genre’s defining elements: 6/8 time, and a Lowest Of The Low-style instrumentation. (Though Steve Stanley’s guitar tone is an elusive beast.) The decision to add Sarah, and all the reverb on her voice, came after I’d arranged the song. It needed more Ireland in it, or something.

Also: St. Brendan’s Way is my favorite song on Shakespeare My Butt….

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You’ve just delivered your punch line, and wish to inform the audience it’s time to laugh. How many beats should your drummer knock out?

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I wrote this for the Prep School Songfight. I tried to create something American and folksy, imagining the guitar parts on a Dobro and a lap steel as I composed. The end result lacks Dobro-ness because I don’t own one. I also wanted to use a traditional melody, something familiar-sounding like a lot of mid-west folk music. The verses either nailed this or succeed in blatantly ripping off some song I can’t place.

NOTE: This song, remixed, remastered, and retitled Pushed Around is on Waking Up In August,

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This was a Songfight title (we didn’t win,) though really I wrote this song for Sarah to sing. She’s a great singer, but the dearth of recordings that feature her voice hides this from the rest of the world.

Inspired by Roymond, I kept rough takes of the song as it evolved so I could document the process.

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Who owns the Stanley Cup? Not necessarily the NHL. The cup’s trustees, appointed by Lord Stanley in 1892, may have lacked the authority to put the NHL in charge. If that’s the case, the cup could still be awarded this year, to a team meeting the regulations first laid out by Stanley. The NHL maintains this is nonsense. But championing the cause of cup-hungry (Canadian) hockey fans is the Free Stanley Organization. They want to liberate the Stanley Cup from the exclusive control of the NHL, and award it to the best team playing hockey in Canada, per Lord Stanley’s original intent. With emphasis on playing.